Thursday, August 7, 2008

On looking for newer photos of old embroideries



It is wonderful to have some books about embroidery that were amazing resources when they were published, especially since nothing as good or complete has been published since. I am thinking specifically of A Pictorial History of Embroidery by Marie Schuette in 1964 and Niedersächsische Bildstickereien des Mittelalters 1150-1450 by Renate Kroos in 1970. At the time they were published fewer color photographs were used in books than now. When trying to recreate these embroideries or use these references as sources for documentation one thing is missing: color. Granted, many of the colors look very different now than they did when new due to fading but seeing them in color really does give a different impression.

I would love to have my two favorite references redone with updated photos. If I were more of a scholar and felt myself up to the challenge and had the time and money to do the traveling that would be required, I'd do it myself. Since that is not possible I will just keep looking for new resources.

Here is something I found yesterday. The b/w photo is from the Kroos book. The color photo is of the same piece but a different section. It is reproduced smaller as the actual book size is smaller but it was very wonderful to see the color. The book is Kostbarkeiten aus dem Domschatz Halberstadt and is a museum publication available on the Domschatz Halberstadt website http://www.dom-und-domschatz.de/publikationen.htm. It is a thin book containing information and photos for various items in the museum, including a few textiles.

4 comments:

Machteld said...

Thanks for posting this! There must be a lot of amazing stuf in Halberstadt, since there are some many black and white pictures of embroidery from that place. Are there any tablecloths in that book??

Have you seen this publication?
http://m-silkwork.blogspot.com/2007/10/recommended-reading.html

The pictures on the cover are very clear and I enjoyed seeing the vivid colors!

Kathy Storm said...

Yes, I saw it on your blog. I liked it so much I bought a copy. The color pictures are wonderful!

The Halberstadt book is a thin book and covers objects besides textiles so there are only a few textiles. There is one other embroidery similar to the picture I posted, a couple dalmatics, and I forget what else. Next time I go to the library I plan to scan the rest of the textile pictures. I don't remember any tablecloths.

Jerusha said...

I've got to see if I can get that Kroos book .....

Racaire said...

Thank you for the hint :)